


The Kite

by MrProphet



Category: Bagpuss
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-23
Updated: 2017-04-23
Packaged: 2018-10-22 23:53:31
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,190
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10707777
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MrProphet/pseuds/MrProphet





	The Kite

_“Once upon a time_   
_Not so long ago_   
_There was a little girl and her name was Emily_   
_And she had a shop._

_“It was rather an unusual shop because it didn't sell anything_   
_You see, everything in that shop window was a thing that somebody had once lost_   
_And Emily had found_   
_And brought home to Bagpuss_   
_Emily's cat Bagpuss_   
_The most Important_   
_The most Beautiful_   
_The most Magical_   
_Saggy old cloth cat in the whole wide world._

_“Well now, one day Emily found a thing_   
_And she brought it back to the shop_   
_And put it down in front of Bagpuss_   
_Who was in the shop window fast asleep as usual_   
_But then Emily said some magic words:_

“‘Bagpuss, dear Bagpuss  
Old fat furry cat-puss  
Wake up and look at this thing that I bring  
Wake up, be bright  
Be golden and light  
Bagpuss, Oh hear what I sing.’

_“And Bagpuss was wide awake_   
_And when Bagpuss wakes up all his friends wake up too_   
_The mice on the mouse-organ woke up and stretched_   
_Madeleine, the rag doll_   
_Gabriel, the toad_   
_And last of all, Professor Yaffle, who was a very distinguished old woodpecker_   
_He climbed down off his bookend and went to see what it was that Emily had brought.”_

Yaffle hopped around the thing with his head on one side. “Nyeh, nyeh, nyeh,” he said. “Oh dear, oh dear, oh dear. This is a collection of sticks and coloured cloth and string. I think it used to be something, but just what it used to be I don’t know.”

"We know!” cried the mice. “We know!” They poured down from the mouse organ, scrabbling over books and shelves to reach the window in front of Bagpuss.”

“You know?” Professor Yaffle scoffed.

“Yes!” chorused the mice. “We know.”

“Tell us then,” Madeleine encouraged them gently. “Go on Charlie Mouse; tell us.”

Charlie Mouse stood in the centre of the window, looking rather grand and self-important. He took hold of his lapels and struck a pose.

“It’s a kite!” Lizzie Mouse cried out.

Charlie Mouse looked a little put out.

“Nyeh, nyeh, nyeh,” Yaffle chuckled. “A kite? Nonsense. A kite must have a much longer string to hold it by.”

“We have string,” the mice chorused, pressing around the old woodpecker. “We have string!”

Willie Mouse and Jenny Mouse scampered away across the shelves to the jar where they kept spare elastic bands and bits of string and ribbon and elastic. They dug out seven bits of string and dragged them down to the window, where the mice quickly tied them together.

“See!” they squeaked. “We have enough string to tie the kite off.”

“Yes, yes, yes,” Yaffle said, “but you also need a tail. A kite without a tail would just flip and flap and flounder in the breeze.”

“You’re right!” Madeleine declared. It does need a tale.”

“And Bagpuss can provide one of those,” Gabriel agreed. “A magical tale about a kite.”

“A magical tail! A magical tail!” The mice cried in ecstasy. They ran to dance around Bagpuss. Bagpuss turned to see them, but they hurried after his tail. Bagpuss turned again and they chased, all of them spinning round and around until they were quite dizzy and fell down.

“A magical tail?” Bagpuss huffed as he looked at his fat, fluffy tail in confusion. “There’s nothing much magical about my tail.”

“No!” Madeleine laughed. “Not a tail, but a tale! A story. You can tell us one of your magic stories Bagpuss and then we’ll see what that makes of the kite.”

“Oh, well, alright. But all that spinning around and around has left me rather baffled. I’m afraid I’ll need a thinking cap to help me gather my thoughts.”

“Well, if the mice have recovered enough, they can find you one,” Madeleine told him. “How do you feel?”  
Charlie Mouse and Jenny Mouse, and Willy Mouse and Lizzie Mouse were all a little giddy still, but Eddie Mouse and Janie Mouse went scrambling across the shelves to the hat box. And as they went, they sang:

“We will find it,  
We will mind it,  
We will carry it down, down, down.  
We will fetch it,  
We will get it,  
Settle it like a crown, crown, crown.”

They soon returned, carrying a conical, black silk hat with a tassel on the top and a gold band around the middle.

“Oh, yes,” Bagpuss said. “That’s very good.”

Bagpuss bent his head and the mice settled the hat on his crown. 

“This is a Chinese hat,” Bagpuss noted. “I was given to me when I was a sailor in the South China Seas and once belonged to the famous Admiral Cheng Ho, who sailed to every part of the known world and some that weren’t known at all. I remember a story about Cheng Ho and a kite.”

“Can you picture the story for us?” Madeleine asked.

“Oh, I’m sure I can.” And Bagpuss thought very hard, and when Bagpuss thinks, his thoughts appear above his head, and soon they could all see the great Admiral Cheng Ho standing proudly aboard his four-masted treasure ship.

And then Bagpuss began his story.

“The Emperor of China ordered Cheng Ho to set sail with a fleet of a hundred ships, to travel to the four corners of the world and bring back wonders to show the power of the Empire. They travelled far and gathered many great treasures, but as the Admiral turned his fleet for home, they were struck by a great storm.

“Cheng Ho’s flagship was blown many miles off course, and Cheng Ho could not find the rest of his fleet. After a day and a night, however, they did spy an island.

“’Land ahoy!’ the lookout called.

“’What do you see?’ Cheng Ho called back.

“’I see an island!’ the lookout replied. ‘There are birds there. Huge birds as big as dragons! And one of them is coming this way!’

“Soon, everyone could see the bird, and a moment later one of them came swooping towards the deck of the flagship.

“’Look out!’ the Admiral cried. ‘Everybody duck!’

“Everybody ducked, because when an Admiral says duck, you should duck without asking why, and the great bird swooped over their heads with a cry that sounded very much like a girl laughing.

“’What was it?’ Cheng Ho demanded. ‘Did anybody see?’

“But of course everyone had ducked and seen nothing. Only the lookout who had been above the bird, called back: ‘It’s a kite! A great, beautiful kite, with a beautiful girl hanging beneath it.’

“’This is a wonder!’ the Admiral declared. ‘And our Emperor commanded us to seek out wonders. Take us to that island.’

“The sailors obeyed and sailed the flagship to the island’s harbour, with the girl on the kite flying over their heads and laughing with delight. And there at the side of the harbour they were met by many fine people in silk robes. Each of them wore a folded kite on their back. An especially fine couple stepped forward, and the girl who had followed the ship swooped down to land beside them.

“The fine couple stepped forward and the man said: ’Welcome to our island, strangers. I am Eagle-Flies-High, King of the Flying People. This is my wife, Petrel-Flies-Far, and my daughter, Swallow-Swoops-Low. We welcome you. Tell us who you are and what brings you here?’

“’ I am Admiral Cheng Ho. The Emperor sent me to find the wonders of this world, but I lost my fleet in a storm.’

“’Don’t worry,’ King Eagle said. ‘I can fly high in the sky and find your fleet.’

“’Thank you,’ Admiral Cheng Ho said. ‘Can I ask you another favour?’

“’Of course.’

“’Your kites are the most wonderful things that we have seen. May we take one back to our Emperor?’

“’Of course,’ Queen Petrel said. ‘Now come and eat with us, while my husband finds your fleet for you.’

“For ten days the Admiral and his fleet stayed on the island and the Flying People looked after them well. They gave them three kites to take home and held a great feast every night. They even offered to teach the sailors to fly on their kites, but only the young lookout, who was used to the lofty heights of the crow’s nest, took them up on that offer and learned from Princess Swallow herself.

“King Eagle did as he promised and soon the fleet was gathered in the harbour and ready to set sail. Cheng Ho thanked the King and Queen graciously, but he had a secret in his heart. He knew that more than anything, the Emperor wanted all the people in the world to worship him and in the holds of the treasure fleet there were hundreds of slaves. In order to bring back one of the Flying People, he invited the Princess to take a tour of the ship and set sail while she was aboard.”

“No! No!” the mice wailed.

“That’s terrible,” Janie Mouse said.

“Horrible,” Eddie Mouse agreed.

“Don’t worry,” Bagpuss told them. “You see, the young lookout was quite in love with the Princess. He smuggled two of the kites up into the crow’s nest and as the ships sailed away he and the Princess climbed up the mast and flew away like birds.”

“Hurray! Hurray!” The mice waved their hands in delight.

“Yes, hurray for that happy ending,” Madeleine agreed. “I was worried for a minute, Bagpuss. But why do you have a hat worn by someone so mean?”

“Nyeh, nyeh, nyeh,” Yaffle scoffed. “Fiddlesticks and flapdoodle. Cheng Ho wasn’t cruel. He just lived a long time ago and sometimes people a long time ago did things that we can’t understand. All the same, I am glad that they escaped,” he admitted.

“And look what the story’s done for the kite!” Gabriel exclaimed.

And they all looked. The tangle of sticks and cloth and string had become a beautiful kite made from red silk. The string hung in loops beneath the kite. The back of the kite was decorated with a screen print of a dark blue bird with long, curved wings and a forked tail.

“Ooh!” the mice cooed.

“What’s that?” Eddie Mouse asked.

“That is a swallow,” Yaffle explained. “A striated swallow of the species  _Hirundo striolata_.”

“We know a song about a swallow,” Gabriel noted. “Mice, I think you’ll find a roll for this song in the organ.”

The mice scurried up and opened up the front doors.

“Heave!” they squeaked as they mousehandled one of the organ rolls from its drawer. “Heave! Heave!”

The roll slotted into place in the top of the organ. Charlie Mouse sprang up onto the platform and raised his arms. “The Marvellous! Mechanical! Mouse Organ!”

Janie Mouse pumped the bellows and the organ began to play. The tune was slow and sweet. Gabriel began to play his banjo in accompaniment and Madeleine began to sing:

“I once saw a swallow that flew in the sky,  
Swooping and soaring above so high.  
I watched as she circled so swift and free,  
And wished that such freedom could come to me.”  
And then Gabriel sang:

“Oh swallow, dear swallow I envy you so,  
I wish I could fly south, wither you go,  
And leave my cold cell in this tower so tall,  
But I am a prisoner behind a high wall.”  
And then they sang together:

“I’ll tell you my dreams, oh swallow dear,  
Please carry then far away from here,  
Though I am a prisoner my mind is free,  
And you will carry my hopes for me.”  
The mice hung their head. “That was a sad song,” Jenny Mouse said.

“I’m sorry, mice,” Madeleine said, “but most of the songs I know about swallows are sad.”

“Why?”

“I don’t know. Do you know, Yaffle.”

“What? What? What was that?” Professor Yaffle asked; he had his head tucked under one wing.

“Yaffle?” Madeleine asked softly. “Are you crying?”

Yaffle shook his head. “Oh, fiddlesticks! Of course I’m not crying. Crying! What an idea.”

The mice scrambled down and clustered around Yaffle, hugging him.

“Oh, dear me, no.” Yaffle shook his head. “Oh, you silly mice,” he chided, but he lifted his wings over them all.

“That’s very sweet,” Bagpuss said, and then he yawned.

Yaffle gathered his wits quickly. “Bagpuss is going to sleep,” he told the mice. “Put the kite in the window and back to the Mouse Organ.” 

And so the mice pushed the kite to the front of the window, in case an island princess should happen by and come in to collect it.

 _“Bagpuss gave a big yawn, and settled down to sleep_  
And of course when Bagpuss goes to sleep, all his friends go to sleep too  
The mice were ornaments on the mouse-organ  
Gabriel and Madeleine were just dolls  
And Professor Yaffle was a carved wooden bookend in the shape of a woodpecker  
Even Bagpuss himself once he was asleep was just an old, saggy cloth cat  
Baggy, and a bit loose at the seams  
But Emily loved him.”


End file.
